Chapter 8: I Don't Know Anyone In The Yakuza I Swear

All day long they were never left alone in the teacher's lounge. Whichever teacher had a free period was with them, asking if they needed anything or how they were doing or simply sitting quietly at their desk while the boys ignored their existence. The boys were busy ordering clothes for Izuku and Inko to replace the ones lost in a fire and looking through housing options for the Midoriya family. They wanted Inko to have the least amount of stress possible. Unfortunately, the options for the single mother of a quirkless son had gone from few to practically non existent.

They were bent over Katsuki's phone studying another apartment listing and discussing the merits of talking Inko into buying a house instead (careful to not mention the money would come from Izuku's account, flush with funds made as a behind the scenes info broker as he wouldn't take any of the money from the identity fraud) when the someone who wasn't a teacher flew into the room. The girl set her eyes on them and ran to the couch they were sitting on. There was a manic glint in her wide eyes and it had both boys on edge.

She didn't seem to have malicious intent, but you could never be too careful. Her pink hair was covered in grease and had what appeared to be a screw sticking out of the end of one of her braids. She shoved her face right in Izuku's and shouted, "You're the quirkless kid right?"

Izuku nodded, leaning as far back as he could to put some space between them. It didn't help as a second later her hands were squeezing his biceps. Katsuki looked ready to throw her out a window and Present Mic was making his way hurriedly across the room when she squealed excitedly, "That's fantastic! They didn't tell me there was such a perfect blank slate for my babies!"

A blush started on his cheeks, "Um, sorry but I'm gay?"

He wasn't sure why it came out as a question when he'd known for years, this girl was kind of freaking him out. Her head cocked to the side, confusion written on her face. "And I'm pan. What does that have to do with my babies?"

Izuku really didn't want to have to give this strange girl the sex talk, but maybe that would get her out of his personal space? Just as he was about to explain to her that he wasn't interested in girls that way so they couldn't make a baby naturally, an exasperated voice came from the door. "Hatsume, I specifically told you to leave the boy alone until things weren't so crazy. Midoriya, I apologize for the misunderstanding. Hatsume calls her inventions her babies and she was told not to come in here after one of my other students told her where you were."

That was a relief, but the girl didn't give him a moment of peace. "Maijima Sensei doesn't understand how important it is for me to be the first to get to you. If anyone gets to be the one to make support equipment who doesn't have quirk related restrictions on what they can use, it's me, Mei Hatsume, the future CEO of Hatsume Industries. I'll even give you discounts in the future for being my guinea pig now!"

It took a second for Izuku to make sense of the rapid fire chatter, is this what it was like listening to him talk? Then his brain processed it. "You…you want to make support equipment for me? Because I'm quirkless?"

Her neck must have been strong to keep her head from flying off when she nodded it so hard. "Exactly! I don't have to worry about you needing something that negates or can withstand your quirk. And you won't be one of those boring people who only want things related to your quirk. Because you don't have one! There are so many possibilities for things I can make you. Do you want hover boots? A jetpack? I can make a lightsaber!"

Power Loader made a noise, "Hatsume, we talked about the lightsaber."

Hatsume pouted for a moment before whispering loudly, "We can talk about it when Kill Joy Sensei isn't around. He's just mad because one time I almost decapitated someone."

Izuku smiled, "Hatsume, I think we're going to be great friends. I've got some ideas for equipment I could email you if you like?"

She whipped out her phone for him to put in his email. "Just call me Mei! Oh, what's your name by the way?"

Katsuki grabbed the phone before Izuku could hand it back to put in his own information. "He's Izuku, I'm Katsuki. Before you make anything for the nerd, you're fixing my gauntlets. They're too heavy and don't store enough sweat so think of it like an interview. If you can't fix my shit, no way in hell am I letting you endanger Deku with subpar equipment."

Her phone was handed back and Mei barely breathed as she started questioning Katsuki about his quirk and what he wanted for his gear. Eventually Power Loader dragged the girl out of the room, still shouting questions as she was forced out. Present Mic smiled at them, "Well you two certainly attract interesting friends."

Katsuki made a growling noise that indicated he was about to object to the girl being called a friend when the door opened again. Aizawa looked more tired than usual as he led Todoroki and Shinso into the teacher's lounge. Their friends carried food for all of them over to the coffee table while Aizawa made his way to Present Mic's desk, grabbing the grinning blonde by the wrist on the way.

Shinso took a seat next to Katsuki while Todoroki brought a chair from a desk over so they could sit around the table and have lunch together. Shinso let out a tired sigh, "Aizawa let us come eat with you guys so you didn't have to come to the cafeteria."

Todoroki nodded, already stuffing noodles in his mouth as he said, "Everyone was trying to come talk to you. They're all freaked out."

Katsuki threw a balled up napkin at the boy, "Don't talk with food in your mouth you gross ass heathen."

Izuku chuckled at his friends before he got more serious. "Is everyone really freaked out? It wasn't that bad."

Todoroki swallowed and shot a glare at Katsuki before he answered, "You clearly have contacts in high places and it doesn't help that Uraraka was arrested after she was escorted out of the building."

Katsuki laughed loudly, "The bitch got arrested?"

Aizawa spoke from across the room just loudly enough for them to hear. "Of course, she was involved in a hate crime that resulted in property damage and endangering the lives of hundreds of people. We couldn't just let her walk free until we could verify the information provided as legitimate."

Shinso was leaning around Katsuki to look at Izuku, "How exactly do you know people who can find that kind of stuff? Someone was obviously watching your apartment to know so soon when something happened. Why?"

Izuku was about to deflect when Todoroki answered for him, "Midoriya is obviously a yakuza boss." Then he slurped on some more noodles like he hadn't just said something ridiculous.

"I'm not in the yakuza! Why would you think I'm in the yakuza?"

He stared blankly back at Izuku until he'd finished the food in his mouth. "You have people watching your apartment, a fancy app for reaching you in emergencies, and hackers at your disposal. You fight like you've been training for years in every kind of martial arts. Bakugo is obviously a bodyguard. It's frankly obvious."

Everyone in the room was staring at Todoroki like he'd just said the sky was red and water tasted like chocolate. Izuku rubbed at his forehead, "Todoroki, I am not in the yakuza. Kacchan isn't a bodyguard, he's my friend. I did study martial arts at a dojo that teaches a range of styles of fighting because I want to be a hero. A friend was coming to my apartment to drop something off to make me feel better about all the media attention when the fire was started. And I have that app because my mom worries about me not being able to reach her in an emergency."

His friend pointed his chopsticks at him accusingly, "But you don't deny knowing hackers."

Izuku threw his hands up, "Everyone knows hackers! It's not hard to learn to hack, I can hack!"

Shinso leaned toward him, "Really? Because I can't figure out how to clear the cookies on my browser. Can you do that for me?"

Katsuki whipped his head to the side, eyeing Shinso. "What kind of idiot doesn't fucking know how to clear cookies?"

"They moved the button and I can't find it."

"That's the dumbest shit I've ever heard." Katsuki was aggressively tapping at Shinso's phone. "It's right fucking here, eyebags."

Izuku laughed at his friends' antics, enjoying the light atmosphere in the room on such an otherwise dark day. Thankfully, the banter managed to devolve into more playful arguing between the four of them and distracted from more questions about how he knew the people he works with.

After the final bell rings and they've packed up all their things Aizawa comes back to the room with Iida in tow. The hero looks at Izuku with soft eyes. "Midoriya, Iida would like a quick word with you. I believe he is sincerely here with no negative intentions, but if you don't want to speak with him that would be completely understandable and he has agreed to leave with no protests."

Izuku considered for a moment. Iida was looking at him with a pretty neutral expression, but his eyes looked sad. He nodded, "I'll talk to him. But here, not alone."

Iida took a step forward, stopping just past Aizawa, and bowed deeply. "I would like to apologize for my actions. During our sparring session, I asked to withdraw from the fight because I had bought into the lies told about quirkless individuals being weaker than those with quirks. I didn't realize at the time that that in itself was discrimination and have since started educating myself on how to avoid discriminating against people in the future."

Iida stood to look Izuku in the eye for the next part. "After our match I realized I had been wrong, but wanted to be sure I wouldn't say or do something else to accidentally put down quirkless people. I distanced myself from you in an attempt to give you space as I bettered myself. In doing so, it probably came across as believing the same things as Uraraka and her friends. After this morning, I realized it was not enough to not join in on the mistreatment. Things may not have escalated as they did if myself and our other classmates had stood up against the quirksist students."

He snapped back into a bow and Izuku found himself wondering how the boy had achieved such amazing posture. "I hope you can accept my sincere apologies both for my treatment of you and for not taking my role as class president more seriously and stopping the deplorable behavior of our former classmate. I will understand if you can't forgive me, but hope that in the future you will agree to let me know if I engage in any quirksist behavior so I may continue to learn how to be better."

Izuku's jaw was almost on the floor. No one had ever apologized for mistreating him before. Iida seemed so sincere that he couldn't help the water in his eyes when he said, "I forgive you Iida, and I don't blame you for what Uraraka did. Thank you for your apology, if you ever need clarification on what would constitute quirksism I'd be happy to explain."

Iida stood, adjusting his glasses. "I appreciate that offer, Midoriya, however I am aware that it isn't your job to educate ignorant people such as myself so I will endeavor to learn on my own. If you have any resources to recommend I would be more than happy to look at them in my research."

After he promised to send some links to the class president, Iida took his leave and they made their way to Aizawa's car. Of all the people who'd sought him out today, Nezu sitting on the hood of the car was the most surprising. The chimera waved happily at their small group, "Hello, I was hoping to ride with you, there are some things I need to discuss with both young Midoriya and his mother."

Aizawa sighed like a man who needed a three day nap and ushered them all into the car. Nezu sat in the back with the boys and smiled up at Izuku, "Midoriya, I have been very impressed with the way you've handled yourself in regards to your quirksist class members. Your recent grades have been very promising as well, particularly your recent essay on quirk theory. I would like to invite you to have tea with me once a week so we can discuss your academic interests."

Izuku jumped at the chance to learn anything from such a smart individual. "Of course! That would be amazing, Sir."

Nezu insisted on being called by his name and they chatted about the aforementioned essay until Inko was climbing into the car. If she was surprised to see the principal, she hid it well, simply exchanging greetings and asking about Izuku and Katsuki's day. Then Katsuki asked Nezu about a point he'd made on quirk theory and the conversation was off and running again. By the time they pulled into the driveway at the Bakugo residence, Katsuki was also invited to weekly tea, his intelligence shining just as brightly as Izuku's.

Everyone settled in at the dining table as Izuku served tea and the chimera shifted to less pleasant conversation. "Mrs Midoriya, I would like to extend apologies on behalf of myself and UA for the events of the last twenty four hours. We have discovered the board member who leaked the news of your son's attendance in the hero course and are prosecuting him for breach of confidentiality. Izuku found the student who leaked your address and she has been arrested. I will personally ensure both individuals face the harshest consequences of their actions."

Inko smiled softly at him, "Thank you for that. May I inquire about the board member in question?"

Nezu folded his paws together. "Yes, it was a Mr Hagakure whose daughter was expelled on the first day. Apparently, he waited until now to avoid suspicion, however, he seemed to forget that I have several contacts within the press who were willing to tell me who was responsible."

She nodded, sipping her tea before speaking again. "Now that we have that out of the way. I would like to know what steps will be taken from here on out to protect my son. I saw the videos of the protesters outside the school and after what happened to our home, I don't feel that my son is safe outside the walls of UA. Since the school is rightfully accepting responsibility for this situation, I think we can all agree it is the responsibility of UA to ensure Izuku is safe."

Nezu seemed overjoyed at his mother's statement and Aizawa just seemed resigned. No one was really surprised that Izuku got his sharp mind from his mother. Nezu leaned forward with a calculating look on his face, "Mrs Midoriya, how would you feel about a dorm system?"